This invention relates to an improved method and apparatus for mounting a material handling machine such as a backhoe on a tractor.
Tractor-mounted backhoes have become widely used machines used for a wide variety of applications. Originally such machines were mounted on agricultural tractors or slightly modified versions thereof, the backhoe being removable from the tractor to free the tractor for other uses. However, over the years, the size, capacity, and durability of tractor-mounted backhoe that are conventionally used in utility and industrial work have increased to the point that the backhoes have been more or less permanently mounted on industrial type tractors. Such heavy-duty backhoes and tractors are relatively expensive, however, and there has developed a market for smaller, lighter duty backhoes that can be quickly mounted on or removed from an agricultural tractor, such backhoes having particular appeal for farmers, who would already have an agricultural tractor and have need for a tractor-mounted backhoe on relatively infrequent occasions, such as laying tile or digging drainage ditches.
For such light duty, occasionally used backhoes, it is necessary that they be easily connected to or disconnected from the tractor, and it is known to mount such backhoes on the three-point hitches of a conventional agricultural tractor using the conventional hydraulic outlets on the tractor to supply the necessary hydraulic power for operation of the backhoe. Such a three-point hitch mounted backhoe is described in U.S Pat. No. 3,904,051, also assigned to the assignee herein. A somewhat similar three-point hitch mounted backhoe is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,966,065. However, as described in said patent, the three-point hitch mounted backhoes have a stability problem and require certain devices to overcome potential safety hazards.